The Process of Belief
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The Process of Belief is the twelfth studio album by American punk rock band Bad Religion. It was produced by its leaders Greg Graffin and Brett Gurewitz, and was released on January 22, 2002, through Epitaph Records. After touring in support of its previous studio album, The New America (2000), Gurewitz re-joined Bad Religion in 2001 after a seven-year hiatus. The band re-signed with Epitaph, and then began work on its first album for the label in over eight years. The album also marked the first album to feature Brooks Wackerman, who replaced former drummer Bobby Schayer.
The Process of Belief was commercially successful for Epitaph, debuting at number 49 on the Billboard 200 chart, and was well received by both critics and fans, who marked the album as a return to the faster and more energetic songwriting style of Bad Religion's earlier albums. The album has sold more than 220,000 units worldwide. The Process of Belief features one of Bad Religion's well-known songs "Sorrow", the band's first to chart in the US in six years, since "A Walk" (from 1996's The Gray Race). "Broken", "The Defense" and "Supersonic" also received radio airplay, but all failed to make any national chart (although "Broken" reached number 125 on the UK Singles Chart).
Background and recording
Bad Religion released their eleventh studio album The New America in May 2000, through Atlantic Records.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Bassist Jay Bentley said there was one day where the label was dropping acts that had sold under 50,000 copies; he said that Bad Religion had sold around 61,000 but had told them: "Please throw us off too. I don't want to be a part of this anymore."<ref name=":0" /> Bentley said no one in the band was happy while making The New America, and had expected it to be their last album.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> In January 2001, it was reported that Epitaph Records and Bad Religion founder Brett Gurewitz had re-joined the band.<ref name=":1" /> He had left the band in 1994 to focus his efforts on Epitaph; he previously wrote "Believe It" for The New America.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=PNKnown>Template:Cite web</ref> Alongside this, it was announced that the band had re-signed to Epitaph, who they left for Atlantic in 1993.<ref name=PNKnown/> In May 2001, it was announced that drummer Bobby Schayer had sustained an inoperable rotator cuff problem, and had left the band as a result.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Throughout June 2001, the band toured across Europe; in the same month, Brooks Wackerman, formerly of Suicidal Tendencies and the Vandals, joined the band as their next drummer.<ref name=NMEsongs/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In July 2001, the band said their next album would be titled The Process of Belief, and was planned for release in a few months' time.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Later in the month, the band recorded at Sound City Studios and Westbeach Recorders, both in Los Angeles, California, with Gurewitz and Graffin as producers.<ref name=NMEsongs>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=TPOBbooklet/> Gurewitz was critical of the previous producers the band worked with, stating that he understood them better than anyone.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Billy Joe Bowers handled recording, while Jeff Mosis and Philip Brousard acted as assistant engineers.<ref name=TPOBbooklet/> In September 2001, Gurewitz mixed almost every track at Larrabee East except for "Epiphany", which was done by Jerry Finn.<ref name=TPOBbooklet/><ref name=LSbelief/> Bob Ludwig mastered the album at Gateway.<ref name=TPOBbooklet/>
Composition
The Process of Belief is a punk rock album,<ref name=YLreview/> which was compared to Bad Religion's sixth and seventh studio albums, Generator (1992) and Recipe for Hate (1993).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The album's title was taken from a lyric in "Materialist", which Gurewitz felt summarizes the band's name fittingly.<ref name=LSbelief/> The opening track, "Supersonic", discusses the speed at which life changes.<ref name=PMreview>Template:Cite web</ref> "Broken" is a mid-tempo rock song, and is followed by "Destined for Nothing", which evokes parts of Recipe for Hate.<ref name=LMreview>Template:Cite web</ref> "Materialist" is an anti-religious track; Gurewitz said it referred to "belief in God and the biological process that causes the belief in God."<ref name=LSbelief/> "Kyoto Now!" is about the Kyoto Protocol to reduce Greenhouse gases and pollution.<ref name=PMreview/>
"Sorrow" was inspired by the biblical figure Job, with Gurewitz saying it was "very difficult to account for suffering in the world from a theological perspective".<ref name=LSbelief>Template:Cite web</ref> The song opens with a Police-esque ska beat, before switching to the band's typical melodic hardcore sound.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> "Epiphany" is a mid-tempo song that talks about the negatives of self-examination, and is similar in form to "Stickin in My Eye" (1992) by NOFX.<ref name=PMreview/><ref name=LMreview/><ref name=Slantreview/> The mid-tempo rock song "The Defense" is an attack on the Patriot Act, and features sitar playing from Mikaleno.<ref name=TPOBbooklet/><ref name=LMreview/><ref name=Slantreview/> The opening guitar riff in "The Lie" recalled on the one heard in "I Want to Conquer the World", a track from the band's fourth studio album No Control (1989).<ref name=Slantreview/> "You Don't Belong" deals with the positives and negatives of nostalgia.<ref name=Blenderreview/> The closing track, "Bored and Extremely Dangerous", is about the issues facing pre-Columbine kids.<ref name=PMreview/>
Release
In August 2001, The Process of Belief was delayed from October 2001 to early 2002, which Bentley said was due to the Epitaph's aversion to releasing albums during the holiday season.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On October 5, 2001, the album's artwork was posted on the label's website.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On October 31, "Sorrow" was made available for free download through the label's website, followed by "Can't Stop It" on November 15, through eMusic.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On January 11, 2002, "Supersonic" was made available for free download through a microsite for the album.<ref name=":2" /> The Process of Belief was made available for streaming between January 18 and 22,<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref> before it was eventually released on January 22, 2002.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> To promote its release, the band held four releases shows across San Francisco and Los Angeles, California, and appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.<ref name=PNBRheard/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The music video for "Sorrow" was posted online on January 29, 2002.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On February 8, the band performed "Sorrow" on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Following this, the band embarked on tour of Europe in February 2002,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and a tour of the US in March, with support from Hot Water Music and Less Than Jake.<ref name=PNBRheard>Template:Cite web</ref> In April 2002, the band performed at the Groezrock festival in Europe.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> "Broken" was released as a single on April 22, 2002; the CD version featured the non-album track "Shattered Faith", "Supersonic", and the music video for "Sorrow".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Three days later, the music video for "Broken" was posted on the band's website.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Between late June and mid-August, the group went on the 2002 edition of Warped Tour.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In September, the band performed at the Inland Invasion festival.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> They were due to tour Australia and New Zealand in October; however, the trek was cancelled for unknown reasons.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In April and May 2003, the band embarked on a US west coast tour, with support from Sparta and Snapcase,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and headlined the Slam City Jam.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In September, the band went on another west coast tour, which included several multi-day shows in different cities.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Some of the shows were supported by the Living End, Maxeen, and Throw Rag.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Reception
Template:Music ratings The Process of Belief was met with generally favourable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 74, based on 13 reviews.<ref name=Metacritic/>
The staff at E! Online said Gurewitz's return to Bad Religion "prove[d] rejuvenating for all. With the combustible reunited dynamic" between Graffin and Gurewitz, "the band has energy and urgency anew".<ref name=EOnlinereview/> RTÉ reviewer Harry Guerin said that despite the band members being double the age of modern acts, the album "finds them growing old gracefully and highlights how much a new generation needs their open-your-eyes anthems."<ref name=RTEreview/> Entertainment Weekly write Jim Farber said the album had "catchier melodies and more breathlessly clever wordplay" than the band's previous releases.<ref name=EWreview/> Joachim Hiller of Ox-Fanzine wrote that the band had "created the[ir] best album in years", having sidestepped the "mediocrity and insignificance" of their previous two "not really bad, but irrelevant albums".<ref name=Oxreview/> Yahoo! Launch's Rob O'Connor called it "a MY-T-FINE punk rock album, chock full of swirling harmonies", though there was "no real surprises here".<ref name=YLreview/>
Phil Udell of Hot Press wrote that the band come across as "sounding as fresh and inspired as in their early days ... [with] sweet harmonies and a passionate belief in the power of music."<ref name=HPreview>Template:Cite web</ref> Rolling Stone writer Tom Moon said the album had "fourteen throttling songs designed to remind Sum 41's worshippers about the oft-neglected cerebral side of punk."<ref name=RSreview/> Slant Magazine contributor Aaron Scott found the album to be "supercharged with Gurewitz’s solid production and enough old school Bad Religion hooks to begin healing years of perceived misdirection," however, it was "not a big enough band-aid to cover all the cuts of time."<ref name=Slantreview/> AllMusic reviewer Jack Rabid wrote that repeated listens of the album awards the listener with "brute, lashing power and wild honey melodies" that disarm "such critical impulses as efficiently as a martial arts master."<ref name="AMreview"/> PitchforkTemplate:'s Rob Mitchum found that on occasion, Graffin and Gurewitz display a "strong hook-writing ability"; however, the majority of the album was "indistinguishable from anything post-No Control".<ref name=PFreview/>
The Process of Belief peaked at number 49 on the Billboard 200 album chart,<ref name="Billboard">Template:Cite magazine</ref> and also number one on Top Independent Albums.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Alternative Press ranked "Sorrow" at number 56 on their list of the best 100 singles from the 2000s.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The album has sold more than 220,000 units worldwide.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Track listing
All songs written by Greg Graffin and Brett Gurewitz.<ref name=TPOBbooklet/>
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Personnel
Personnel per booklet.<ref name=TPOBbooklet>Template:Cite AV media notes</ref> Template:Col-begin Template:Col-2 Bad Religion
- Jay Bentley – bass, backing vocals
- Brian Baker – guitar
- Greg Graffin – lead and backing vocals
- Brett Gurewitz – guitar, backing vocals
- Greg Hetson – guitar
- Brooks Wackerman – drums
Additional musicians
- Mikaleno – sitar (track 11)
Template:Col-2 Production and design
- Brett Gurewitz – producer, mixing (all except track 9)
- Greg Graffin – producer
- Billy Joe Bowers – recording
- Jerry Finn – mixing (track 9)
- Jeff Moses – assistant engineer
- Phillip Brousard – assistant engineer
- Bob Ludwig – mastering
- Mackie Osborne – art direction, design
- Chris Martin – praying family illustration
Charts
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Weekly charts
| Chart (2002) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA)<ref name=aus>Template:Cite book</ref> | 77 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (2002) | Position |
|---|---|
| Canadian Alternative Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 122 |
| Canadian Metal Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 59 |
References
External links
- The Process of Belief at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)